Nickolas Butler

Sharing a childhood in small-town Wisconsin before going their separate ways with careers and families, Hank, Leland, Kip and Ronny are reunited during a visit marked by culture clashes, respective pursuits of meaning and a woman who inspires passion in each of them. A first novel. 150,000 first printing.

A Novel

Shotgun Lovesongs

Camp Chippewa, 1962. Nelson Doughty, age thirteen, social outcast and overachiever, is the Bugler, sounding the reveille proudly each morning. Yet this particular summer marks the beginning of an uncertain and tenuous friendship with a popular boy named Jonathan. Over the years, Nelson, irrevocably scarred from the Vietnam War, becomes Scoutmaster of Camp Chippewa, while Jonathan marries, divorces, and turns his father’s business into a highly profitable company. And when something unthinkable happens at a camp get-together with Nelson as Scoutmaster and Jonathan’s teenage grandson and daughter-in-law as campers, the aftermath demonstrates the depths—and the limits—of Nelson’s selflessness and bravery. The Hearts of Men is a sweeping, panoramic novel about the slippery definitions of good and evil, family and fidelity, the challenges and rewards of lifelong friendships, the bounds of morality—and redemption.

The Hearts of Men

In this moving new novel from celebrated author Nickolas Butler, a Wisconsin family grapples with the power and limitations of faith when one of their own falls under the influence of a radical church Lyle Hovde is at the onset of his golden years, living a mostly content life in rural Wisconsin with his wife, Peg, daughter, Shiloh, and six-year old grandson, Isaac. After a troubled adolescence and subsequent estrangement from her parents, Shiloh has finally come home. But while Lyle is thrilled to have his whole family reunited, he’s also uneasy: in Shiloh’s absence, she has become deeply involved with an extremist church, and the devout pastor courting her is convinced Isaac has the spiritual ability to heal the sick. While reckoning with his own faith—or lack thereof—Lyle soon finds himself torn between his unease about the church and his desire to keep his daughter and grandson in his life. But when the church’s radical belief system threatens Isaac’s safety, Lyle is forced to make a decision from which the family may not recover. Set over the course of one year and beautifully evoking the change of seasons, Little Faith is a powerful and deeply affecting intergenerational novel about family and community, the ways in which belief is both formed and shaken, and the lengths we go to protect our own.

Little Faith

Godspeed

Longlisted for the Reading the West Book Award For the right price, you’d risk your life. Wouldn’t you? Cole, Bart, and Teddy, the three principals of True Triangle Construction, are hired to finish a project for a mysteriously wealthy homeowner. The grand house is unlike anything they’ve worked on before, and they’re sure it’ll put their name on the map. But the owner is intent on having it built in a few months, an impossible task made irresistible by an exorbitant bonus. Up against the critical deadline and the threat of a harsh Wyoming winter, the trio will do anything to get the money, even if it means risking their lives…or each other’s. With heart-pounding danger and high-stakes action, Godspeed is a gripping thriller about greed and violence that asks: How much is never enough?

A collection of stories by the award-winning author of Shotgun Lovesongs includes the tales of young couples who gather annually to collect winter firewood and an aging environmentalist who takes out his anger on an unsuspecting target. Tour.

Stories

Beneath the Bonfire

Shotgun lovesongs

A scarred Vietnam veteran and successful businessman reflects on his teen years as a social outcast and friend to a popular youth during a summer camp reunion marked by selflessness and an unthinkable event involving his friend's family members.

a novel

The hearts of men

Cole, Bart, and Teddy, the three principals of True Triangle Construction, are hired to finish a project for a mysteriously wealthy homeowner. The grand house is unlike anything they've worked on before, and they're sure it'll put their name on the map. But the owner is intent on having it built in a few months, an impossible task made irresistible by an exorbitant bonus. Up against the critical deadline and the threat of a harsh Wyoming winter, the trio will do anything to get the money, even if it means risking their lives...or each other's. With heart-pounding danger and high-stakes action, Godspeed is a gripping thriller about greed and violence that asks: How much is enough?

Buena Suerte

La nueva novela del autor de Canciones de amor a quemarropa Tras muchos años trabajando en una tienda, Lyle vive ahora siguiendo el ritmo de las estaciones en la granja que comparte con su mujer en un pueblo de Wisconsin. Están felices porque su hija Shiloh, madre soltera con la que mantienen una complicada relación desde su adolescencia, ha vuelto a casa con Isaac, su nieto de cinco años. Pero Shiloh está saliendo con un pastor evangélico que ejerce una enorme influencia sobre ella. Lyle teme que vuelvan a irse de casa y perderlos de nuevo. En su tercera novela, Nickolas Butler vuelve a demostrar que es un maestro en la construcción de personajes y en la recreación de un espacio geográfico, el Medio Oeste americano, que pocos conocen mejor que él. Algo en lo que creer explora las relaciones entre padres e hijos, abuelos y nietos: una historia sobre la comunidad y la familia, y sobre lo que estamos dispuestos a hacer para cuidar y proteger a quienes amamos. «La mejor obra de Butler hasta la fecha.» The Wall Street Journal «Impresionante y devastadora. (...) Esto es el oficio de narrar en su máxima expresión.» Publishers Weekly «¡Qué fuerza! (...) una novela profundamente conmovedora sobre el amor, la fe y la pérdida. Una hermosa meditación sobre la naturaleza de la paternidad y la vida en un desconcertante (y a veces cruel) mundo.» Patrick Sullivan (Library Journal) «Una novela sobre el corazón de Norteamérica que evoca la posibilidad de los milagros cotidianos. (...) como tu camisa de franela favorita, informal y confortable (...).»Kirkus Reviews

Algo en lo que creer

Shotgun Lovesongs : Roman

From Nickolas Butler, author of the national bestseller SHOTGUN LOVESONGS, comes a moving story of a cop's last bid to right a wrong she may have helped create. Aida doesn't recognize the young woman at first. It could be the scars that have altered Bethany's face, the ones she tries and fails to cover up, that make her unrecognizable. Or it could just be Aida's failing memory. Even before her retirement from the force she was losing track of things, whole days even. And it was in one of those moments that she fears she missed the chance to help Bethany before. A mistake that she now hopes she might be able to correct, or at the very least do penance for. Set amidst the failed farms and small towns of the prairie, IN WESTERN COUNTIES portrays one woman fighting to hold onto her own life, even as she frees the life of another.

A Short Story

In Western Counties

"Butler gehort in die erste Reihe der amerikanischen Gegenwartsautoren." Booklist uber eine Zeitspanne von drei Generationen und ebenso vielen Kriegen erkundet dieser Roman die Herzen der Manner: ihre Schwachen und Geheimnisse, ihre Bedurfnisse und Werte. DAmit legt Nickolas Butler nach "Shotgun Lovesongs" ein vielschichtiges und sensibles Epos uber die Verletzungen, die Manner einander und anderen zufugen, vor.

Die Herzen der Männer

Gretchen Connors sembra avere tutto: il fascino, un impiego prestigioso, un ricchissimo conto in banca e diverse proprietà tra una costa e l’altra degli Stati Uniti. Ma allora perché si è messa in testa di far costruire una lussuosa dimora tra le aspre montagne del Wyoming? E soprattutto perché pretende che sia pronta in pochi mesi? Quando Cole, Bart e Teddy, titolari della True Triangle Construction e amici da una vita, vengono assoldati per la gestione del cantiere, nutrono molti dubbi sulle motivazioni reali della signora, ma la somma esorbitante che gli viene offerta per consegnare l’appalto nei tempi prescritti, con la prospettiva di ricavare più soldi di quanti ne abbiano mai sognati, li convince ad accettare. Quella casa abbracciata alle rocce e impreziosita da una sorgente termale non è un lavoro qualsiasi: chi la realizzerà avrà l’occasione di cambiare le proprie sorti, di dire addio a un’esistenza passata a spaccarsi la schiena per risparmiare pochi spiccioli o per rimediare qualche droga capace di far dimenticare la solitudine; chi se la godrà potrà finalmente ricongiungersi alle proprie radici, sposare la magnificenza selvaggia della natura. Quella casa tra le nuvole non è un progetto qualsiasi: è una casa per cui vale la pena vivere, una casa per cui vale la pena morire. Dall’autore dell’indimenticabile Shotgun Lovesongs, un nuovo romanzo rurale che si tinge di noir, un’immersione dolceamara in un’America ormai orfana del sogno, stretta tra il miraggio del benessere e la ferocia di un capitalismo che macina nel suo ingranaggio forti e deboli allo stesso modo; un’America miserabile a cui rimangono solo le sirene di una corsa all’oro che è in realtà una lotta per la sopravvivenza.

La casa vicino alle nuvole

El corazón de los hombres is a sweeping, panoramic novel about the slippery definitions of good and evil, family and fidelity, the challenges and rewards of lifelong friendships, the bounds of morality--and redemption. It follows the lives of Nelson and his unlikely friend Jonathan as they grow up, grow apart, and are brought back together due to Nelson's selflessness and bravery.

El Corazón de Los Hombres

Henry, Lee, Kip and Ronny grew up together in rural Wisconsin. Friends since childhood, their lives all began the same way, but have since taken different paths. Henry stayed on the family farm and married his first love, whilst the others left in search of something more. Ronnie became a rodeo star, Kip made his fortune in the city, and musician Lee found fame - but heartbreak, too. Now all four are back in town for a wedding, each of them hoping to recapture their old closeness but unable to escape how much has changed. Amid the happiness of reunion and celebration, old rivalries resurface and a wife's secret threatens to tear both a marriage and a friendship apart . . . This is a novel about the things that matter - love and loyalty, the power of music and the beauty of nature - told in a uniquely beautiful, warm-hearted and profound way and exploring the age-old question of whether we can ever truly come home.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER "Impressively original." —The New York Times "Sparkles in every way. A love letter to the open lonely American heartland...A must-read." —People "The kind of book that restores your faith in humanity." —Toronto Star Welcome to Little Wing. It's a place like hundreds of others, nothing special, really. But for four friends—all born and raised in this small Wisconsin town—it is home. And now they are men, coming into their own or struggling to do so. One of them never left, still working the family farm that has been tilled for generations. But others felt the need to move on, with varying degrees of success. One trades commodities, another took to the rodeo circuit, and one of them even hit it big as a rock star. And then there's Beth, a woman who has meant something special in each of their lives. Now all four are brought together for a wedding. Little Wing seems even smaller than before. While lifelong bonds are still strong, there are stresses—among the friends, between husbands and wives. There will be heartbreak, but there will also be hope, healing, even heroism as these memorable people learn the true meaning of adult friendship and love. Seldom has the American heartland been so richly and accurately portrayed. Though the town may have changed, the one thing that hasn't is the beauty of the Wisconsin farmland, the lure of which, in Nickolas Butler's hands, emerges as a vibrant character in the story. Shotgun Lovesongs is that rare work of fiction that evokes a specific time and place yet movingly describes the universal human condition. It is, in short, a truly remarkable book—a novel that once read will never be forgotten.

Ein schmerzhaft-schöner Familienroman, der die Macht und die Grenzen des Glaubens mit besonderem Feingefühl erkundet: Lyle und Peg Hovde empfinden es als großes Glück, dass ihre Tochter Shiloh samt Enkelsohn wieder nach Hause zurückgekehrt ist. Doch bald treibt Shilohs neue Glaubensgemeinschaft einen Keil in das harmonische Familienleben. Als sich abzeichnet, dass auch der fünfjährige Isaac in die Fänge der Sekte geraten könnte, müssen die Großeltern eine folgenschwere Entscheidung treffen, die die Familie vollends entzweien könnte. Lyle und Peg Hovde genießen im ländlichen Wisconsin ihr Großelternglück. Gerade ist ihre alleinerziehende Adoptivtochter Shiloh mit dem fünfjährigen Isaac nach Wisconsin zurückgekehrt, und die Familie zum ersten Mal seit Jahren wieder vereint. Doch es gibt einen Wermutstropfen, denn während ihrer Abwesenheit hat sich Shiloh einer radikalen Glaubensgemeinschaft angenähert. Lyle beobachtet Shilohs Entwicklung mit Skepsis, vor allem als deutlich wird, welche Rolle der Enkelsohn Isaac in der religiösen Gemeinde spielt. Doch je stärker er sein Unbehagen zum Ausdruck bringt, umso heftiger reagiert Shiloh. Lyle versucht alles, um das Vertrauen seiner Tochter wieder zurückzugewinnen, doch als das Glaubensdogma der Sekte Isaacs Sicherheit bedroht, ist Lyle gezwungen, eine folgenschwere Entscheidung zu treffen. Nickolas Butler widmet sich mit großem Einfühlungsvermögen einem hoch sensiblen Thema. Was darf der Glaube und welche Macht kann er entfalten? Wann muss man Menschen vor ihrem Glauben beschützen und kann das überhaupt gelingen?

Nickolas Butler

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